The New Mexico Lobos scored their biggest win of the season against the No. 6 Nevada Wolf Pack last January. Will they duplicate that feat this coming Saturday in Reno? Nevada is definitely waiting for an opportunity to avenge that sorry loss to New Mexico, but will they be able to avoid getting upset again? According to NCAA Futures, the Lobos are +200,000 to win the National title, while Nevada is +2,000 to accomplish the same goal, and are big time favorites to take the straight up (SU) win on the road this weekend.
Betting on the New Mexico Lobos (10-2 Overall / 4-6 Conference)
The Lobos are coming off a win, which caused them to have a big sigh of relief, having lost all of their previous three games. The Lobos took down the San Diego Aztecs on Tuesday, 83-70. at home on Tuesday, setting them up with a nice cushion before an anticipated rematch with Nevada. The Lobos’ biggest win of the season thus far came at the expense of Nevada, which they beat at home on Jan. 5, 85-58. It was one of the surprising wins of in the nation this season, considering the manner of how New Mexico crushed the Wold Pack. Anthony Mathis was the hero for New Mexico in that game, as the senior stuffed the stat sheet with 27 points, six rebounds, and five assists with a steal. He also hit five 3-pointers in 35 minutes. Mathis is the Lobos’ top scorer with 15.8 points per game.
As a team, New Mexico is averaging 75.4 per contest, and currently hold a 5-5 against the spread (ATS) record in conference games so far this season.
Betting on the Nevada Wolf Pack (22-1 Overall / 9-1 Conference)
After the aforementioned January loss to the Lobos, the Wolf Pack have never looked back, obliterating all of their next eight games, including the Colorado State Rams on the road on Feb. 7 to the tune of a 98-82 score. Nevada’s offense has been humming. It is 13th in the nation with 82.1 points per game. It’s been even better of late. In fact, their 92.7 points average over their last three games is the best in Division I basketball among all teams in the same span. The Wolf Pack shot just 33.3 percent from the field against the Lobos, but it’s going to be hard to bet on that kind of salty shooting afflicting the Wolf Pack again, considering how great they have been on that end of the floor. They need to put up a better effort though on the glass, as Nevada was massively outrebounded by New Mexico in the first meeting, 47-37.
The Wolf Pack are 12-7-1 ATS this season in games after a win and 7-3 ATS against Mountain West Conference teams.
